Improvement in blasti ng rocks



c. MoNsolf; V

Blasting Fuse.

Patenbed Apr-1. I 85l.

NITED STATES,

CHARLES MONSON, OF NEW'HVEN, CONN'ECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN BLASTl'NG ROCKS, &O.

Specilicntion forming' part ef Letters Patent .\'o. 5,01 E. dated April l. 15,11.

Tn /LZZ whfmt it 711,41/ concern,.-

Be it known that l, CHARLES Moxsox, of the city and county of New Haven, and State of Connecticnt, have invented certain new' and useful Improvements in the Process of Blasting; and I do hereby declare that the following' is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying draw- 4ings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists, mainly, in confining the charge or blast between opposite projections or ilanges, plates, or portions of iron or other suitable material firmly connected together, by means of xvhich the force of the blast in the direction of said opposite plates or project-ions is divided against itself, and so restrained Ias to act with greatly-increased effect in other directions in which it is required.

Let, the dott-ed lines, Figures 1 and 2, represent'an ordinary drill-hole; a I), aniron rod or instrument reaching to or above the surface, enlarged at I) d, so as nearly to fill the drillhole. b d may be nuts screwed onto the rod, the 'nut 'or projection b resting upon the bottom. This lower nut is to be so packed that the blast shall not get under it, which may be done by means of a looselyLstuffed cushion, e e, inserted into a recess at the bottom of b, and by Weight at a, made to spread so as to fill and occupy the space under and around the nut; or a little sand may first be poured into the hole and I) sunk into it. A groove may be made, or sufficient space may be left between the upper nut or projection and the sides or one side of the hole, for the purpose of charging, through Which groove or space the fuse or other -means of firing the charge may be inserted; or for the latter purpose the rod a b may be made hollow from a down to c. Charge may fill from b to c, and dry sand or other packing from c to d. This apparatus I call abinderfl Suppose the 'opposing` surfaces of I) d. to be flat and equal, it is obvious that when the charge is exploded those parts of its expansive force which act perpendic-ularly to those surfaces will be equal, and, being `in opposite directions, Will have no tendency to eject the binder, and the blast thus restrained will be compelled to act more effectively upon the surrounding rock. If,

.by reason of irregularities in the drill-hole,

inequalit-ies of size in b d, imperfect packingof I), or from any other cause, the blast acts upon the rod more powerfully upward than downward there must yet be a division of the force to some extenl', and lothat extent an advantage, and Whatever excess ofupward force there may be can be easily compensated by means of a sui'ticien't Weight on top of the instrument at a or by otherconlrivancesheie inafter to be specified.

The above is the simplest form in which I have contemplated the application of my method, and the one which best illustrates its principle; but, obviouslyfit may be varied in several particnlars, uiulcrdii'lerent circumstances'aud for different purposes, Without any departure from that principle.

The binder, as illustrated by Figs. 1 and 2, is fitted to restrain the blast in two opposite directions, -and there circumstances in Which the same principle may be usefully applied in such a manner as to restrainthe blast in more than two opposite directions; but as the explanations already given are intellible, and, I suppose, sufficient, I shall avoid any risk of obscurity Which I might incur by a further and unnecessary description. The principle, then, Whichis involved in my met-hod is the offsetting the action of the blast against itself in opposite directions, and thus restraining it so as to insure its effect where it is wanted.

In the different ways of using my binder it may happen, as already'intimated, that the blastwill act upon it somewhat more powerfully upward than downward, thus impairing in some degree the el'ficacy of said binder. To meet such a difficulty, When a Weight is not used, an additional contrivance may be employed. (Represented in Fig. 3, A B.) Let a d be a longitudinal sectio'n of a binder having the connecting-rod either at the side, as A, or in the middle, as B. Let the rod just above the nut be Wedge-shaped and flat-tened, as in the figure. To the slanting surface let an'- othersmallfpiece,l C, be fitted, wedge-Wise point down, (Which I call a packing-wedge,) and let the Whole be inserted together, the small packing-wedge being adjusted and driven into place by a suitable ramrod or stiff wire passed through the space left for charging. N early or quite the Whole force of the blast, Which acts directly on the little Wedgc, Will be a downward force, Which, in conjunction with tedious.

any supposed excess of upward force, will cause c d to be wedged together, so as to make the ej ection of the instrument impossible. The said little packing-wedge or packing-wedges may be used in connection with a roundl bottom nut or projection, which, as described,

described. and the little paeking-Wedge suited to it, as also already described. Such a form of my instrument may be more conveniently used in angular or irregul'ar-shaped drill-holes than the form hereinbefore described, With a project-ion which shall nearly fill the bottom of the-hole. Now, in the use of the little packing-wedge within the charge or blast chamber the principle of my binder is involved and made available, for if said little Wedge be thus placed anywhere Within theblast-chamber the direct -action of the blast upon it will tend more to keep it in than to lift it out, and if it be placed at the bottom of the hole, with a very little packing (Well put) under it, then the direct action of the blast upon said little wedge will be all downward, tending to hold it in.

This application of my little packing-wedge isl well enough illustrated by Fig. 3, if we consider them as havingfno bottom nut or round projection nearly filling the hole: d, the flattened Wedge-shaped part o'f the instrument; b, ramrod to packing-wedge; -c, charge from the bottom (filling each side of c and d) up to e,- packing to f. [A small chain connects 'c and d, a's else the little wedge might get mislaid or lost.].

Fig. 4 represents my binder with diameter of the plates or flanges considerably enlarged. 'Dhis enlargement is 'in order to a different mode of packing, the charge being in a cartridge to be placed as indicated by the inner dotted lines, and the space without the eartridge and within the diameter of the flanges a b is to be fillcd with sand or other packing. The use of my binder with this mode of packing may be especially advantage'ous in seamy, fiaky, or porous formations, of whatever sort, where Work With pick and crow is slow and In such cases the flanges or projections ab are to be made so large that the space within their diameters and around the car-` tridge-*shall hold packing enough to effectwhich much v otherwise escape.

. and nuts.

ually fill up the pores and .'crevices, through of the force of the blastmight Said fl'anges a, b maybe boiler-plates bound together by one stout-central bolt, as in the figure, or by several bolts The blast in expanding will drive the packing into and against the surrounding porous Ior scamy mass, packing itself in,) and,

being thus at once difi'used and confined, itV

must be effective upon said surrounding mass. Should the hole be a Wet one or under water, no matter how shallow, with awater-proof cartridge and flanges nearly filling. the hole, water itself may be used for the packing, in' which case the charge may be fired through a hole in the center rod opening 'into the cartridge.

Of course I do not mean to suggest the use of cartridges as anything 'new in -blasting, and I am aware that elay has been used around a charge in wet holes, by way of puddling to fill the little fissures and stop the leaks; and also as to the use of water, where a depth of it can be had sufficient to make its Weight available, I am awarethat this Would not benew; butasto my device of packing around the cartridge for the object before indicated, and with water, irrespective of the consideration of its weight, I do not know whether thisdevice isv new or not, and that I may be upon the. safe side I shall not claim it. Moreover, it is not important for me to claim it, inasmuch as it is a device Which can in no other way be so conveniently available as in4 connection with the use of said binder, which I do claim.

Now, to sum up in brief what I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, it may be sufficient to state that I claim- 1. The use of an artificial binder by means of which to restrain the action of. the blast in opposite directions by offsetting said action against itself, Substantial] y as hereinbefore explained.

2. The use of the littlepacking wedge or Wedges within the charge or blast chamber, substantially as described.

The foregoing descriptions, explanations. and specifications are subscribed to by me this 5th day of February, A. D. 1851, at New Haven, Cornecticut.

I CHARLES MoNsoN. 

